by Emerson Lim and Lilian Wu, Central News Agency, Oct 12, 2009

The Philippines has been hard hit by two typhoons over the past few weeks, with nearly 1,000 people killed and more than 14,000 families left homeless and moved to temporary shelters.

In late September, Typhoon Ketsana battered Manila and nearby provinces. Typhoon Parma, which first hit the Philippines on Oct. 3 but which returned on Oct. 8, damaged large tracts of rice paddies that were to be harvested this month.

Out of humanitarian concern, Taiwan's government donated US$50,000 to the Philippines and solicited donations from nongovernment and private groups.

The Fo Guang Shan Monastery responded by collecting eight tons of relief goods that were transported to the Philippines in an Air Force C-130 transport plane and arrived in Manila at 10 a.m.

The plane, which was unable to deliver the goods as originally scheduled on Oct. 7 because Typhoon Parma lingered in the Bashi Channel, returned at 3 p.m to Taiwan after completing its mission.